Orange Moves Slowly On New Gun Rules Shops Not Told That Cooling-off Law In Effect

August 20, 1988|By Michael Blumfield of The Sentinel Staff (Mark Andrews of the Sentinel staff contributed to this article.)

If Orange County wants handgun dealers to comply with its new cooling-off period, it's not exactly going out of the way to help them do so.

Nobody has bothered to tell dealers that the law, which forces first-time handgun purchasers to wait three days before picking up the weapons, has been in effect for more than a week.

''Orange County hasn't said diddly-squat to me,'' said Mike Ansley, owner of Shoot Straight Gun Shop Inc. in Apopka.

''We were told if we want a copy of the ordinance, we'd have to drive down to the county building and pay $2.50,'' said John Clobes, manager of Oak Ridge Gun Range in Orlando.

Ron Barnes, owner of Orlando Gun Room and Pawn on South Orange Blossom Trail, said county workers have been uncooperative in his requests for information.

''They act like I'm asking them to expose the last time they had sex,'' he said. ''It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of in my life.''

One gun dealer, who did not want to be identified, admitted he had inadvertently violated the law by letting a first-time buyer walk out the door with a handgun instead of forcing him to wait three days.

In an Aug. 1 meeting marked by angry protests from gun shop owners and members of the National Rifle Association, Orange commissioners voted 3 to 2 for the cooling-off period, made possible this year by the state Legislature. The ordinance took effect last Thursday.

Linda Chapin, the commissioner who pushed for the waiting period, admitted the county hadn't followed through after passing the law. ''I think that we kind of dropped the ball in not having it all ready to go,'' she said.

Apparently, Orange County staff members were looking to Volusia County, which had approved an identical law two weeks earlier, for guidance in carrying it out. But Volusia proved a bad example: It, too, failed to tell gun shop owners how to comply with the law.

That county's law had been in effect a week before Dale Wehr, owner of Central Florida Gun and Pawn in DeLand, complained he wanted to hear directly from the county instead of news reports what the new law entailed.

''I called the county manager's office and told them I didn't think it was right that I should have to run a business on the basis of what I read in the newspaper or saw on TV,'' he said. The county later mailed all the gun shop owners a copy of the ordinance but no instructions on how to comply with it.

Orange doesn't plan to do even that much. The county will run a one-eighth page advertisement in The Orlando Sentinel on Sunday with a brief description of the new law, telling readers that the law has been in effect since Aug. 11. The county has no way to make sure businesses comply with the law. If a store is found to have sold a handgun illegally, its owners are subject to fines of up to $500 and six months in jail. Orange has about 15 gun shops and several other businesses that sell handguns.

Seminole County does not have such an ordinance, but gun shop owners in Orange and Seminole said it doesn't appear handgun buyers are flocking from one county to the other to buy weapons. Most buyers already own a gun or aren't willing to fight traffic to get one, the store owners say.

Seminole County commissioners are scheduled Tuesday to discuss Commissioner Bob Sturm's proposal that the county enact the same law approved by Orange and Volusia. County attorneys have drawn up a proposed ordinance.

Commissioners on Tuesday could decide to advertise a public hearing, which would be held about a month later. If that is done and the measure is passed, the soonest the waiting period could be enacted would be early October.

But not all gun shop owners in Seminole are upset by the prospect. Bert Nelson, owner of A&N Sports Inc., Sanford, said a cooling-off period might even boost his sales.

''It's psychology,'' Nelson said. ''Some guy spends $300 on a gun today. Then, when he comes back in three days to pick it up, I can sell him a nice case and other accessories. He doesn't look at it as almost $400. He looks at the subsequent purchases as less than $100.''